1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns devices for holding flat products, in particular flat products or objects that can have a relatively large surface area.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices for holding flat products usually employ suckers mounted at the bent over end of a tubular support and connected to a vacuum pump. The device applied to the product to be held functions by creating a large drop in pressure over a small area of the surface of the product which closes off the sucker, so as to hold it against the device and transfer it elsewhere. This is not satisfactory where the product has a relatively large surface area and weight.
Under these conditions the device has to be centered as accurately as possible on the product and the pressure has to be greatly reduced. Operation is even less satisfactory where the surface of the product to be held is irregular and/or porous. Nor does the device provide any simple way of reorienting the product during its transfer, although such reorientation is sometimes necessary to facilitate the transfer of bulky products.
Also, such devices are extremely noisy in operation and are costly to implement.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device for holding flat products having a compact structure and avoiding the aforementioned disadvantages.